3 held in Tularosa homicide

An 18-year-old Otero County man is being held on a $1 million bond in the Otero County Detention Center after sheriff's office detectives charged him in Tuesday's homicide of a 63-year-old Tularosa woman, Otero County Sheriff Benny House said.

Sheriff's office detectives are continuing their investigation of the homicide.

House said Paul N. Reynolds Jr. is charged with one count of first-degree felony open murder and fourth-degree felony unlawful taking of a motor vehicle.

He said the sheriff's office received a call from Albert Gallegos, of Tularosa, requesting assistance in locating his wife, Rita Gallegos, who he was reporting as missing at that time.

House said Albert Gallegos stated that he came home and found a large quantity of blood in the kitchen of their home and his wife's vehicle was missing.

"Deputies found her deceased in the master bedroom. She appears to have been physically assaulted with numerous wounds on her body," he said. "In the same time frame, the Otero County Sheriff's Office learned that the Alamogordo Department of Public Safety was investigating a single-vehicle rollover traffic accident in the desert area of the north bypass involving the vehicle identified as being taken from the Gallegos family."

House said ADPS officers and detectives identified two females leaving the scene of the accident and possible identification of a male who had left prior to officers arriving at the accident scene.

"A witness in the area identified the male being transported to a residence on El Paso Drive and dropped off, and later was reported to have taken a vehicle from that residence," he said.

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"The sheriff's office secured the Tularosa residence to begin conducting their investigation of the death of Rita Gallegos. Through the course of the investigation, we learned the three subjects identified by ADPS had contact with the Gallegos family at the Montezuma residence just prior to Rita Gallegos' death."

House said the two females are identified as Lea Valencia, 23, of Sunland Park, and Alena Priego, 18, of Alamogordo.

He said Valencia and Priego were placed under arrest and charged with one count each of receiving or transferring a stolen motor vehicle.

Valencia and Priego were jailed at the Otero County Detention Center in lieu of a $5,000 each no-10 percent bond pending their appearance in court.

"ADPS officers and detectives questioned Valencia and Priego as to their knowledge of what took place in Tularosa at the Gallegos residence," House said. "Law enforcement attempted to locate Paul N. Reynolds Jr. for questioning in regard to his knowledge of what had transpired. Through the course of the investigation, law enforcement obtained and executed six search warrants in an attempt to obtain evidence to determine the facts of the case."

"Reynolds stated to detectives that he wanted to take a classic Plymouth Road Runner, but was unable to find the keys," Picazo said. "Instead, Reynolds took the 2002 Chevrolet Tracker SUV. Reynolds was going to settle a $30,000 debt that he had gotten himself into."

House said the investigation was a joint effort between OCSO, ADPS and Tularosa Police Department.

"Through the cooperation of these agencies, we were able to identify a suspect and get this young man in custody and charged," House said.